As to the beauty and harmony of the...

As to the beauty and harmony of the, script of these codices, which create an impression of un-likeliness of their belonging to the era of the beginnings of the Kufic script, it can be explained by the fact that 'Ali (A) was one of the masters of calligraphy in his time. 'Ali (A) is reported to have taught calligraphy to his secretary 'Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Rafi.

48 It is reported that an accomplished scribe was writing the Qur'an, 'Ali (A) admired his writing as he examined it, though he disapproved of his use of diminutive writing for the Qur'an. In Ibn al-Nadim's al-Fihrist there is a reference to Khalid ibn Abi al-Hayyaj, a companion of 'Ali (A), as one of master calligraphists of the Qur'an.

50 Khalid was employed after 'Ali's martyrdom by the chamberlain of Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik for making copies of the scripture and for writing poems and traditions for him. It was he who wrote the inscription in gold of the qiblah of the Prophet's Mosque, which runs from Surat al-Shams to the end of the Qur'an. 51 Despite all this, the authenticity of the attribution of each these codices to 'Ali (A) is a matter that requires a separate study. 9.

Script of Early Qur'anic Manuscripts Doubtlessly the script of the Qur'an in the times of the Prophet (S), the Sahabah and the Tabi'un, was the Kufic script: This script, which is a variation of the Hiran script (belonging to the city of al Hirah came to the Hijaz from Iraq about the time of the outset of the Prophet's (S) ministry and the companions of the Prophet (S) learnt to read and write it during his lifetime.

According to some the Kufic script has its origin in the Nabataean scriptr 52 Some others say that it evolved from the Syrian script 53 because both in the Kufic and Syrian scripts the alif is not written when it occurs in the middle of a word. For instance, the words , and are written as and However, a style of writing other than the Kufic existed in Hijaz at the time of the Prophet (S). This was the Nabataean script from which the Nakshi style evolved later.

The Nabataean script being easier, was commonly used except by the people of Arabia. 54 Malik al-Shu'ara' Bahar observes in Sabkshinasi that from that which can be gathered from the bulk of traditions is that the Islamic script, from the very beginning, was the Nabataean script, which was called al-Naskhi and al-Darij. The Arab had taken it directly from the late Nabataean script.